The exhibition is an attempt to showcase Taiwanese artists’ work of their particular area. Teh I Chu’s abstract paintings are the result of his long-term investigation of color and space, which express his unique viewpoint of visual composition. From a rather intimate approach, Ava Pao-Shia Hsueh translates her emotional life into vivid color and line in her abstract paintings. Chung-Fan Chang’s Kite series reflects her meditative process of making while initiating a viewing experience that merges fluorescent colors into her poetic landscape. The fiber-based sculpture of Ping-Yu Pan applied various materials to subvert the perception of its reference whereas, Jun-Jieh Wang first erotizes and genders common objects and then presents these objects in a documentary fashion. By carefully arranging the documents in relation to one another, the work generates multiple ambiguities inter-textually. Jui-Chung Yao employs critical observation and an individual approach to exorcise political and cultural misunderstanding. The mosquito nail series of Chun-Hao Chen’s work not only unfolds his unique technique in remaking the Chinese landscape painting and conversing with old masters, but also bestows the seemingly identical paintings with new characters. The Three Sages in the Ocean of Misery by MaoLin Yang transforms the images of Buddhist deities with rather modern visual language, creating the conversation between East and West, as well as between the artist, viewer and the “Sages.” Mi-Lou series of Dar-Kuen Wu transforms street performers and artists into landmarks of various cities, and presents the possibilities of multiple-narrative structure image.

To conclude, Horizon Realm: Contemporary Art from Taiwan represents a cross section of contemporary art produced in Taiwan in the post Martial Law era of the late 1980’s when enforcement was relaxed and freedom was established. President Ching-kuo Chiang proclaimed the lifting of Martial Law in 1987 followed by the liberalization and democratization of Taiwan. The work of this exhibition encompasses painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography, which as a whole investigates space, tactile material, and mixed media and addresses issues, such as politics and gender. Through each artwork, the issues in Taiwanese society are presented to create conversations between the United States and Taiwan and between the artworks and the viewers to promote mutual understanding as well as to shape the “fusion of horizon” from different ends of the earth.

*image (left)
No. 73, 2013
mixed-media, 350x350x200(H)cm
© Wang Te-Yu

organized by Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts and Jackson State University